Violent clashes erupt between missile defence protesters and police in South Korea

Dozens of people were injured in clashes between South Korean protesters and police Thursday as the US military added more launchers to the high-tech missile-defence system it installed in a southern town to better cope with North Korean threats.

In South Korea, thousands of police officers in riot gear swarmed some 400 protesters who had been occupying a road leading to the site where the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence System, also known as THAAD, is installed in the rural town of Seongju. Six police officers and 32 other people were injured, none seriously, in the clashes, said a fire department official in Seongju who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Several US military vehicles, including trucks carrying payloads covered in black sheets that appeared to be launchers, had been seen heading toward the site.

South Korean officials say THAAD will strengthen the country's missile defences, which now rely on Patriot-based systems, and will deter North Korea, which has missiles that can be fired from road-mobile launchers or submarines.